No, I Don't Feel Ashamed About Shaming

Lots of opinions on whether Red Hens and other restaurants should not serve Sarah Huckabee Sanders and other Trump folks.  I have not blogged about it because I have been traveling, but I did tweet and get some pushback.  I do see some divisions among those who are against Trump, so here's my take.

I borrowed a friend's quote that illustrates this all very nicely:

"I’m so encouraged that the restaurant didn’t judge Sarah Sanders on the color of her skin, but instead by the content of her character."

This gets to the heart of the difference between this and the gay wedding cake thing: that those who seek to sell to the public cannot discriminate against groups but can discriminate against individuals for who they are and what they have done.  Would I serve a pre-trial Jeffrey Dahmer?  As a private actor, I don't need to do any kind of due process to kick out any individuals who find to be problematic for their past behavior. 

Ok, Sanders is not a cannibal, but I did compare her to Goebels.  Yes, I am much more free with the Nazi comparisons now that the President has said he doesn't think there should be any due process for those who infest the US and where his agents separate families by lying about sending the kids to the showers.  [Who radicalized me?  Trump apparently] 

Is it wrong to peacefully protest outside the home of DHS head Kirstjen Nielsen?  I am not sure.  Given that her department contains agencies failing to protect those they handle, I have to think that her homelife should not be immune.  I am sure someone will say that an eye for an eye will make us all blind, but it ain't an eye for an eye---that is the false equivalence machine at work.  Peacefully protesting is not as painful as separating or imprisoning families.  

Speaking of false equivalence, making people uncomfortable about being white supremacists is not uncivil, certainly not as uncivil as being white supremacists and inflicting one's views on legislation, executive orders and the instructions given to the agents of the state.  Citizens don't need to do due process to express their opinions, especially when governments are not doing the due process that is required of agents of the state before they do grievous harm. 

We can argue whether it is good politics to focus on this, but we can do two things at once--confront this administration as it does serious harm AND have politicians run on pre-existing conditions, the gutting of medicare and social security, tax cuts for the rich and benefit cuts for everyone else.  This is a time to stand up for what is right and stand against that which is so very wrong.  If it makes the evil-doers (and, yes, they are doing evil at home and abroad) a little uncomfortable, I am more than fine with that.

Indeed, here's a fun proposal: after the Civil War, Robert E Lee's property was taken away and turned into Arlington National Cemetery.  They are running out of space, so after Trump leaves office and has his assets seized for the various criminal enterprises which took place within such places, how about we turn Trump's golf courses into National Cemeteries and his hotels into prisons for Trump admin officials who engaged in corruption or otherwise abused their power?  Of course, after all due process has been, um, processed.